June 28, 2019
By Ambrose Evans-Prichard
Worrying (click here) excesses are building up in the world's $US52 trillion ($74.2 trillion) nexus of shadow banking, and investors risk serious losses when the financial cycle turns, the ratings agency DBRS has warned.
The hunt for higher yield has led to a surge in leveraged loans, collateralised loan obligations (CLOs) and other -arcane high-risk instruments with echoes of the Lehman crisis.
While banks have been forced to raise their capital buffers and are deemed much safer than in 2008, the hazards have migrated to dark pockets of the vast non-bank sector. This now makes up 62 per cent of the $US97 trillion assets of the financial industry.
The sector lends directly for takeover bids and corporate activity much like the banking industry, but is not regulated as strictly....
...DBRS (click here) warned of "significant risk" in the changing character of US shadow banking - the world's biggest by far, still dwarfing China - and especially in leveraged lending. "The quality of these loans has deteriorated," it said....
...Leveraged lending is defined as loans to companies with a debt burden over four times cash flow....
...The Bank is also alarmed by the growth of closed-end funds, reaching $US30 trillion worldwide. These funds are often trapped in illiquid assets - it takes 297 days on average to sell commercial real estate - but they promise investors they can withdraw their money at any time. This creates a dangerous maturity mismatch....
...The pitfalls of this model have been on vivid display over recent days as -investors pulled more than €5bn ($8.1bn) from six funds run by H20 -Asset Management, triggered by a scare over links to a controversial German tycoon. The run on the Natixis-owned funds has since halted....
What is it with this administration and the shifting baseline of language? The last time there was a Goldman-Sachs US Treasury Secretary he was supposed to stop the decline in the markets that started in 2007. Now, there is another one and he wants to change the language to hide what he is doing.
November 9, 2017
By Pedro Nicolaci da Costa
This is a weird one: (click here) Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, a former Goldman Sachs banker and hedge fund manager, wants to ban the widely used term "shadow banking."
First coined by the former Pimco economist Paul McCulley, the term refers to a wide swath of financial activities that occur at firms that are not commercial, deposit-taking banks. Because the behavior of such entities, which include hedge funds and private-equity firms, is bank-like but not overseen by bank regulators, many experts worry the sector could become the next candidate for a financial crisis now that rules on actual banks have been tightened....
Anyone at The Fed could update those that care.
I am not a power broker. I trust the American people. They need to decide and it is a tough decision.
Please keep your voices strong, one of them will be in the Oval Office on January 20, 2021.
Thank you for caring about the USA. I heard from America tonight. It is not lost, however, a segment of our citizens is sequestered away from the truth, oppressed and surrendered. Please, keep you voices strong and I thank you all.
27 June 2019
by Qassim Abdul Zahra and Bassem Mroue
Iraqi security forces stand guard near the Bahraini embassy in Baghdad, Iraq, after protesters stormed the compound to protest the US-led peace conference hosted by Bahrain earlier in the week
Baghdad — Protesters stormed the Bahraini embassy compound in Baghdad (click here) Thursday night, removing the flag from above the building and replacing it with a Palestinian banner in protest against a US-led economic conference held in the Gulf nation to push Washington’s Israeli-Palestinian peace plan.
Bahrain’s Foreign Ministry condemned the attack and said the kingdom was recalling its ambassador, Salah Ali al-Maliki. It added that Iraqi authorities have a responsibility to protect the embassy in Baghdad....
There is absolutely no reason for any candidate to release a PREDETERMINED list of judges as President she or he would nominate to the Supreme Court or any other court.
THAT ALONE is partisanship while catering to CRONIES.
ABSOLUTELY NOT!
THAT is corruption.
Until recently the persons primarily crossing the border were men looking for work. That's NAFTA. NAFTA made working as a professional in the USA or Canada or Mexico easy when needing credentials in Canada or a Canadian or Mexican needing credentials in the USA, ie: Nurses. That is Americans crossing a border to work in a different country because of NAFTA and vice versa. Why aren't these people treated the same way?
June 27, 2019
by Gaby Del Valle
It was the first moment of fireworks Wednesday night. (click here) Julian Castro, the former HUD secretary under President Obama, took a shot at his fellow Texan, former Rep. Beto O’Rourke on his record on immigration: “I think you should do your homework,” Castro said.
The issue? A little-known, near-century-old statute that’s the backbone of Trump’s family separation policy.
Section 1325 of Title 8 of the U.S. Code makes it a crime for someone to enter the U.S. somewhere other than an official port of entry. It’s what makes crossing the border without authorization illegal — specifically, a misdemeanor; re-entering after being deported is a felony — and it dates back to a low point in U.S. immigration history....
The kind of work these men were performing was vital to the agricultural southwest. I met them and their children. They were a community whereby their children went to school except during harvest and even then they were provided at home education to maintain their studies. There were very strict laws enacted in Southern California when it came to spraying crops with anything. When there was a violation of such laws that endangered the health of these workers, the plane operator was facing a judge.
Just because they aren't professionals with a license means they are disposable workers. There was a big warehouse store in Bakersfield that catered to their needs. They sold inexpensive items in bulk and some of the attendants spoke Spanish. These workers and their families were valuable parts of that economy.
So, I don't get it. Why hasn't NAFTA kicked in and ended the laws that hurt these valuable people the most?
Section 1325 (click here) sets forth criminal offenses relating to (1) improper entry into the United States by an alien, (2) entry into marriage for the purpose of evading immigration laws, and (3) establishing a commercial enterprise for the purpose of evading immigration laws. The Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act (IIRIRA) amended 8 U.S.C. § 1325 to provide that an alien apprehended while entering or attempting to enter the United States at a time or place other than as designated by immigration officers shall be subject to a civil penalty.
Comment: Further discussion of these offenses is set forth in Chapter 4 of Immigration Law, published as part of the Office of Legal Education's Litigation Series, and as part of the USABook computer library.
[cited in JM 9-73.200 (click here)]
The decision is based in Federalist Society theocracy. It is a direct assault on the separation of church and state. The Supreme Court isn't supposed to make a decision amounting to "Dah, I donna know."
It plays into THE Republican strategy for 2020 along with the border wall.
Elections are supposed to be free and fair, not LIMITED to those in control over the ORGANIZATION of the TASK.
This is the ideologically driven Robert's Court chosen from lawyers and judges GROOMED for the purpose of overthrowing the USA democracy.
SOS - Save Our Souls.
June 27, 2019
by Ariane de Vogue
The Supreme Court (click here) said Thursday that federal courts must stay out of disputes over when politicians go too far in drawing district lines for partisan gain -- a ruling that could fundamentally affect the balance of power in state legislatures and Congress.
Chief Justice John Roberts wrote the 5-4 decision for the conservative majority.
The court was asked to consider when politicians go too far in drawing lines for partisan gain in a set of cases arising from North Carolina and Maryland.
The North Carolina case was brought by Democrats challenging Republican-drawn maps, while the Maryland case was brought by Republicans challenging a Democratic map....
A really lovely lady died today and I send sincerest sympathies to her family, friends and fans.
She was unique. She did not have an easy life. She took the experiences of her life and talked to young women she and her spouse picked up on warrants from courts. They were glamorized as bounty hunters.
She was not heartless and acted out of compassion to everyone retrieved from society that needed to face a judge to begin their walk back to freedom and a better life on the right side of the law.
I didn't know she was even ill. That is how gracious she was to all who watched the show she starred in with her husband. I am sorry she died so young. She didn't deserve it.
Much comfort to her family and all those that loved her. She was great.
